LOOKING FORWARD TO SUMMER

It has been very hectic around my house for the past couple of weeks with trying to study for finals and finish my classes. My family also has a lot of birthdays in the month of May. There are 5 family members in my immediate family that had birthdays over the past week. We also had Mother's Day, one of my personal favorites even though I don't like these kind of holidays. What is there not to like about making your mother feel special, or just let her know how much you appreciate her. On top of all this I also have 2 brothers graduating this year, one from High School and one from MSSU. I'm sure everyone is busy, but I am so busy I actually get a little stressed out this time of year even when I am not taking classes. I am really looking forward to this month being over and having time to spend with my children. I am planning to spend as many weekends at the lake as possible this summer. My son has been asking to take him fishing at the lake for about the last month (he has a new fishing pole he wants to try out). We are also planning a weekend in St. Louis watching baseball and going to the zoo. I hope everyone also has some good plans for their summers. Good luck with finals everyone.

Hair Booms

I read an article in the Joplin Globe about using human hair stuffed into pantyhose to help soak up the spilled oil in the Gulf Coast. I think it is a great idea. Something has to be done with all the spilled oil anyway. People also have to get a haircut, so why not send your hair to help clean up the mess. There was also a link in the Joplin Globe for Matter of Trust, the nonprofit charity group who is collecting the hair and nylons to make the booms. They are accepting hair, fur, and nylons from anyone who would like to donate. That means if you do not want to go somewhere to get your hair cut you could cut it yourself and still send in the clippings.

A hair dresser from Madison, Alabama named Phillip McCrory is the person who came up with using hair to soak up oil spills. He got the idea from watching how hard it was to clean oil from the fur of animals after a spill. After testing the idea for a while he was able to get a patent for it. Now his idea is used to make what is called an OttiMat, a brick made up almost completely of hair. Isn't it amazing what we normally throw in the trash could be used for. Maybe more people should donate to this cause so that the oil Companies will be ready for the next time there is a spill.

The other day I was at an event where they played the Star Spangled Banner, our National Anthem. While the National Anthem was being played I saw some people playing around. I went and talked to them after the incident and they wanted to know why it was such a big deal and why did they need to stand and take their hats off. So, I had to explain to them that it is out of respect and pride for their flag and Country and for those who have served, will serve, and are serving our Country. I had to explain to them that it is all about the freedoms that we have. If they like the options that their Country offers to them they should stand and show the proper respect back to their Nation.

If you can not show the proper respect, I think you should find somewhere else to live your life. This brings me back to immigration and speaking English. If you can not learn to speak English and show the proper respect to our Nation I don't think you should be aloud to live in the United States. My question is do non-English speaking immigrants (legal or illegal) like the options that our Country offers them? Of course they do. If they didn't they would not be here. Are these options enough for them to want to learn the English language instead of expecting us to understand what they are saying? I would think so!

Arizona's new immigration law

I am glad that some form of government is finally doing something that should be done. Or should I say something that should have been done a long time ago. I think as a Country we have been way to lax on immigration. Which is why we have as many illegal aliens as we do. They are here sucking our tax money out of our country, while not paying in a dime. I have no problem with legal immigrants or people that are here with a legal green card. If they have one of the two the are at least paying in like the rest of us who are actually citizens of this country.

There have already been several law suits filed saying that the new law is unconstitutional. What I want to know is where is it in our constitution that an illegal alien has any rights, other than human rights, in the U.S. Would it be considered racial profiling to check for immigration papers on all people of a Latin descent? I guess it would be, but how many illegal immigrants are anything but Latin descent? I read that almost 90% of illegal aliens are from Latin America, 54% being of Mexican descent. So, maybe racial profiling but not wrongfully so since most of them are of Latin descent.

I think that they should be given an option of being deported or becoming citizens of our great Country. Once we get a handle on the whole immigration thing maybe then we can do something about making English the official language of the United States again, another thing that drives me crazy.

Rubber Bands= New past time

My co-workers and I have recently started a new past time at work. Rubber Band Fights!! You might think this is childish, but that's OK. It really is, but we have a lot of fun with it. Maybe it is because we are all a bunch of big kids. It's just harmless fun, well mostly harmless. You might go home with a few red marks on your arms and legs, but they sill all be gone by the next day. Then we just start ove and do it again.

You might be thinking,"this is madness," but that is not true. We do have rules.
The Rules of Rubber Band Club
-The 1st rule of Rubber Band Club is that you do not talk about Rubber Band Club.
-The 2nd rule of Rubber Band Club is that you do not talk about Rubber Band Club.
-The 3rd rule: If someone says stop, goes limp, or taps out you shoot them one more time.
-The 4th rule: Everyone is aloud in the fight.
-The 5th rule: You can only shoot ot be shot while not ectively working.
-The 6th rule: No shooting in the face (body shots only).
-The 7th rule: Fights will go on as long as they have to.
-The 8th and final rule: If this is your first day at Rubber Band Club, you have to fight.

These rules (adapted from the Movie Fight Club) might not be completely original but the work for us. It really does make a fun work environment.

A Dangerous Job

Being in the military is one of the most a dangerous and hardest jobs. How many other jobs are there were getting shot at is part of your job? Probably police officers, but the don't have the same potential of getting shot at. How about being away from your friends and family for months or years at a time? I can't think of any. What about were doing your job could be so close to illegal that swaying, even just a little, from what you are doing could send you to prison?

Sometimes the laws of war are so vague that it is hard to tell what is legal or illegal. Sometimes people just make mistakes or do the wrong things knowing what they are doing also. Like what happened at Abu Ghraib Prison. The Iraqi prisoners were not just imprisoned but also tortured. The soldiers who did this know they were wrong.

But other times situations like the Navy Seals that were recently cleared by a U.S. military judge in another Iraqi abuse case. The Navy Seals in the case were accused of abusing a prisoner while being taken to a prison. The prisoner accusing the Seals was arrested for torturing and murdering 4 U.S. civilian contractors in Iraq. Personally I don't see why they would take this prisoner alive in the first place, but that would also be against laws of war also.

Being a medic in the military, we are trained to triage. This means don't treat if they are going to expire anyway. Basically do the most good for the most people. That means that if I was in an attack were Iraqis attacked us and we injured a few of them, I should treat them while my fellow soldier who is going to die from the attack bleeds out. This is another case were it would be hard to do what is considered the right thing. I would rather make sure my fellow soldier who is going to die is comfortable until his time comes.

Who knew that building a privacy fence could be a family project with young children? I didn't expect it to turn out as well as it did. And it only took us 2 days (I already set the posts) and the fence looks great.

My wife and I decided to build a privacy fence. After going and pricing and looking at everything we decided to build it piece-by-piece. This takes longer, but looks better, holds up better, and costs less than the 8 ft preassembled sections. Putting it together ourselves holds up better because we used screws to fasten it. The preassembled sections are all nailed together. The preassembled sections cost about $50 per section plus the posts to attach them to. To build it ourselves it cost about $35 per section. So, we decided to start building last weekend.

On Thursday my wife found out she had to go to Kansas City. So I was going to be home with the kids trying to build the fence. So, my son (who is 5), my daughter (who is 3), and I were going to build the fence. I was thinking sarcastically,"this is going to be good." Surprisingly it actually worked out very well. My daughter wore my tool belt (wrapped around her waist twice and was still big) and handed me screws, my son handed me fence pickets, and I took care of the rest. We had a good flowing system going and made really good time. We finished our longest section of about 50 ft. in 3 hours. All that work was almost more than the kids could take. But we managed to get it done. By the way the kids slept great after working as hard as the did.